Under the Lights

by Shannon Stacey

  “So what did you do today?” she asked after they’d ordered burgers. “Weren’t you guys being roped into judging the decoration contest?”

  “We did that this morning, and one of the kids emailed the results to Jen, so that’s done. I talked to Hunter a little bit.”

  “Really?” Immediately, he saw the change in her expression and was struck again by the depth of her feelings for their hometown. “How’s he doing?”

  “Good.” He told her about his conversation with the boy, watching her relax again as he assured her things were looking up in the Cass household.

  She was telling him about a rumor going around that there was a potential buyer for the old mill, when he caught himself wondering what she’d think of New Jersey. It wasn’t too bad an area, where he lived, and it was close to the ocean.

  But just as quickly, he discarded the idea. Stewart Mills was her home and not in the place-of-residence sense, but the place where her roots ran deep, and it was a part of who she was. Besides, what would he say to her? Hey, I’m barely employed and technically don’t have any place to live, but you wanna go to Jersey with me?

  There was no way she would walk away from everything she had here just because they’d had great sex, and he wasn’t going to ask her to. Her trying to turn him down without wounding his pride would just be painful and awkward for both of them.

  “Are you even listening to me?”

  He gave her a sheepish grin, totally busted. “Sorry. I know you were talking about a potential buyer for the mill. I hope that works out, for the town’s sake.”

  “Me, too. I think the rumor’s a little flimsy and people are making it a bigger deal than it is in order to grasp at straws, but you never know. But where did your thoughts go?”

  “Where my thoughts usually go when I’m with you,” he lied.

  “Aren’t you supposed to abstain from sex before a big game?”

  “I think that’s before you go into battle. And if you’d seen us on the practice field, you’d know there’s a good chance I won’t be able to have sex after the big game.”

  She laughed, shaking her head. “By the time we get everybody off school property, clean up and then lock the gates, nobody will want to have sex.”

  The server brought their burgers and they dug in. When she was done, Chase finished the last quarter of her burger and all of her fries, too. He wouldn’t eat right before going on the field, so he’d fuel up while he had the chance.

  “Tell me about your sister’s kids,” she said while watching him polish off the rest of her meal. “Three girls, right? Do you see them a lot?”

  “Not a lot, but regularly. They love me.” He grinned and told her about his three nieces, who were quite a handful, just as he and Kathy had probably been.

  There were a lot of stories, but he shared the best ones. Like the incident with the teddy bear and the toilet. And the inevitable run-in with Mom’s makeup bag. Or the time they’d tried to convince their uncle Chase, who volunteered for babysitting at times, that fast food was medically necessary, because if they didn’t eat fast, they got sick. He’d taken them through the drive-thru just because their story was so beautifully crafted, and he felt as though they’d earned it. Kathy had disagreed, of course, but those were the risks you took with a free sitter.

  Then he showed her the photo his sister had texted him of the girls dressed up for a birthday party, and Kelly smiled. “They’re beautiful. I like watching you talk about them, and I’ve seen you with the boys from the team. It’s too bad you don’t have kids, because you’d be a great dad.”

  The compliment was like a punch to the gut. He’d wanted kids, but lately he’d been grateful he didn’t have any, because they’d just be caught up in the mess the end of the building boom and Seth Poole had helped bring about. And if he had a wife and kids and a mortgage, he might not have been able to juggle enough to keep himself out of bankruptcy.

  “Maybe someday,” he said. “Once I’ve got my life back on track. How about you?”

  She shrugged. “I had planned to have kids, but I guess I wasn’t married long enough. I was starting to think it might be time to start a family, when it all blew up in my face, so I’m glad now, of course. As much as I’d like to have children, I’m glad I don’t have to maintain a relationship with my ex for the rest of my life for their sake. He’s just gone from my life and I never have to see him again.”

  “I know what you mean.” He’d dragged the conversation down, and he didn’t like it when she talked about her ex-husband. Her eyes grew sad, and it made him want to find the guy and punch him in the face. “Do you want dessert?”

  She smiled. “I didn’t even finish my lunch. Do you want something?”

  “Since I ate my lunch and then yours, hell no.” With his stomach full, he leaned back in the booth and failed to stifle a yawn. “I can’t believe I have to play football tonight.”

  “Maybe you should come home and take a nap with me,” she said in a low, suggestive voice.

  And just like that the tiredness was gone, and he wanted her so badly it hurt. But he remembered the story she told him and tried to force it down. “After what you told me about your day at work, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  Her stubborn face was almost a carbon copy of her mother’s, which he’d seen often enough during the time he spent at the McDonnell house. “My private life is just that. Private. Plus, you can park out back in the town lot and it’s only a few feet to the door. There are a dozen trucks just like yours in town.”

  So she might claim her private life was nobody’s business, but it was obvious she wanted to minimize the chances of anybody seeing him at her apartment. No matter how much he wanted her, he wasn’t willing to risk her job. “Kelly, I . . .”

  Her calf brushed the inside of his, and she reached across the table to run her thumb over his palm in a way she knew drove him crazy. “Kelly what?”

  “I don’t suppose it’s legal for you to give me a lights-and-sirens escort to the town lot?”

  “No, but I know a shortcut that’ll shave five minutes off the drive.”

  He signaled for the check. “That’s five minutes more for napping.”

  —

  “That wasn’t a shortcut,” Chase said from behind her as Kelly unlocked her door and walked in. “That was a cow path through the woods.”

  “You have a truck.” She didn’t see the problem. A sports car wouldn’t have made it, but he had four-wheel drive.

  “Yeah, but it’s a nice truck. And it’ll stay nice because I don’t drive it down glorified cow paths.”

  “If your truck had been born with balls, it would be a gelding now. You know that, right?”

  “But a nice gelding.”

  She tossed her keys on the table, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you’re carrying on about going through a few mud puddles and splashing dirt on the outside when the inside of your truck looks like a garbage disposal that stopped disposing about two years ago.”

  “Nobody sees the inside,” he said, as if it were all perfectly reasonable. Then he stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She nestled against him, feeling the hard line of his erection through their jeans. “But I don’t want to talk about my truck anymore. Or geldings, to be honest with you.”

  “What should we talk about?” she asked, although she already knew the answer. Conversation time was about to be over.

  He pulled her shirt up and over her head and then slid his hands up to cup her breasts. “We can talk about how much I love touching you.”

  When he pushed down her bra and ran his thumbs over her nipples, she shuddered and sucked in a breath. In the past, men hadn’t given her breasts a lot of attention because they were on the smaller side, but Chase didn’t seem to mind at all, and she liked that.

  She liked it even mo
re when she turned to face him and he bent his mouth first to one breast, then the other. Sliding her fingers into his hair, she held him there, wanting more.

  She unclasped her bra so she could slide it off and then unfastened her jeans. Before she could push them down, he captured both of her wrists with one hand. The other, he slid over her stomach and under the waistband of her underwear. Then he stopped, just letting his hand rest there, so close and yet still so far away.

  Kelly made a sound of desperation low in her throat, but Chase refused to be budged.

  “Are you in a hurry?” he asked, his breath hot against her neck.

  “I’m not very patient when it comes to getting what I want, and right now I want you.”

  He pushed her back onto the bed so he could pull her jeans and underwear off and toss them aside. Then he made quick work of adding his to the pile.

  Kelly heard him set a wrapped condom near the pillow, but apparently he wasn’t finished tormenting her yet. He teased her until her fingernails dug into his back hard enough to make him wince, his mouth alternating between her lips and her breasts while his hand slid between her legs.

  He made her come for him with his hand and his mouth before she heard him tear open the condom wrapper. With her breath still ragged and her heart racing, she opened her legs and pulled him close.

  He slid into her slowly, the friction so delicious that Kelly actually sighed. She lifted her hips as he moved in an easy rhythm, urging him deeper.

  His thrusts picked up in pace, and he hooked his hands under her knees to pull her close. Each stroke came faster and went deeper, and she arched her back as the orgasm shook her. He groaned and she felt him pulsing inside her, before he dropped her knees and pushed deep as the last tremors shook them both.

  Once they could breathe again and their hearts stopped racing, Chase tossed the condom in her trash can and pulled her into his arms.

  “That was worth getting my truck dirty,” he admitted, and she laughed. “I’m a little disappointed you haven’t handcuffed me to anything yet, though.”

  “I really don’t get the whole sex and handcuff thing. Sorry.”

  “You don’t think they’re sexy?”

  “They’re a tool of my job and, if I have to use them, I’m probably not having a very good day. So, no, I don’t think handcuffs are very sexy. You’re a builder. Would you think it was sexy if I wanted to bring a tape measure to bed?”

  “The last thing any man wants near him when he’s naked is a tape measure,” he said, wincing. When she was silent for a few seconds, he scowled at her. “This is the part where you assure me I have nothing to worry about.”

  “Oh.” She widened her eyes and gave him a totally fake smile. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  He reached down and pinched her ass, making her jump. “Smart-ass.”

  She let her body relax into his and closed her eyes. It had been a nice day, she thought. Lunch with Chase in a restaurant and then a little afternoon dessert, so to speak, to top it off. And maybe there was still enough time for an actual nap before she had to get up.

  “Okay, maybe you are supposed to be abstinent before a big game,” Chase said after a few minutes. “All I want to do now is sleep.”

  “Oh, no you don’t. Everything we’ve done has been leading up to this night. Jen did all the details for the game, and I don’t know if she shared with me or I forgot, but what time are you supposed to be there?”

  She felt him shift and assumed he was looking at her alarm clock. “Sooner than I want to be there, that’s for damn sure.”

  “Damn.” With a sigh, she disentangled herself from his arms and the sheet. “If you cut it too close, everybody walking to the high school to get the best bleacher seats will see you sneaking out of my apartment.”

  “Don’t want anybody knowing your dirty little secret?”

  She gave him an arched eyebrow. “As secrets go, you’re not little, but you’re probably a little dirty.”

  “Complaining?”

  She wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. “Definitely not.”

  “You have to let me go, or I’ll be so weak Coach will bench me. And since I don’t know if we even have enough guys in the first place, it’ll be pretty noticeable if I don’t play.”

  “Fine.” She let him go and watched him get dressed. “I have to shower and put my uniform on, anyway.”

  “I’ll see you there.” He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss, wisely not lingering long enough to let her get her hands on him again.

  “I’ll be the blonde with the handcuffs,” she said, and he was laughing when she heard the door close behind him.

  17

  Chase stood in the middle of the football field, looking up at the blur of faces as the last bars of the national anthem echoed through the stands.

  For a moment, he felt seventeen again, geared up and under the lights and ready to do the only thing he thought he was good at back then. The thing that made him feel strong and confident and in control. And the one thing that had brought Coach into his life and given him the guys who’d been like brothers to him. Football had made him who he was today.

  But he certainly wasn’t seventeen anymore, since all the standing around before the game was getting to his back. And they weren’t exactly geared up. After much discussion with Coach and an equipment count, they were playing a slightly modified game. It wouldn’t be flag football, but it wouldn’t be full contact, either, and they’d play shortened quarters. They were all in practice jerseys, blue for the team and white for the alumni, and they’d basically be playing a glorified version of backyard football.

  It was still going to hurt.

  The crowd sat, but then Jen walked out onto the field with a microphone, and Chase groaned. He should have brought one of those collapsible camp chairs, because he was seriously getting too old for this shit. Through the corner of his eye, he saw Alex shifting his weight from one foot to the other and knew he wasn’t alone in wishing they could get on with it.

  Then Gretchen and Kelly joined her and he didn’t mind so much. Kelly was technically on duty, but she was wearing cargo pants and a SMPD T-shirt instead of her full uniform, with her ponytail pulled through the matching ball cap.

  “Hey, Eagles fans!” Jen yelled. Whatever she said next—even with the microphone—was swallowed up by the cheers, so she paused until the noise subsided. “The Eagles Fest committee wants to take a minute to thank everybody who’s given time or services or donated goods to the fund-raiser. As you know, saving Stewart Mills football means every single dollar counts. Actually, I can honestly say every single quarter counts.”

  She stopped talking and the crowd quieted, as if every person in the stands was holding his or her breath at that moment. Chase did, too, even though he was certain good news was coming. He couldn’t imagine the women would interrupt the pregame to announce they’d failed and there would be no more Eagles football in Stewart Mills.

  Jen turned to Coach and held out the microphone. He shook his head slightly, but she just smiled and kept it extended until he finally took it. The microphone picked up his throat clearing, and Chase got nervous. Coach didn’t often get emotional.

  “It seems like forever ago and yesterday at the same time that I stood on a field like this one and watched my team win the championship for the first time.” He paused, clearing his throat again. “Not many people thought it could happen. But I believed. And those boys believed. And now they’re men and they’re standing here with me today to help me keep teaching boys to believe in themselves.”

  He turned to face them. “I want to thank every one of you who came back to help us out. It means the world to me and to this town and to Eagles football.”

  The crowd added their thanks in the form of applause and whistles, which Coach waited out before sp
eaking again. “To the boys playing for me now: on Saturday, the eighth of August, at nine A.M. sharp, I want you on this field, ready to play some football.”

  It took a few seconds for his words to sink in, and then the crowd erupted. The people of Stewart Mills were on their feet in the stands, but Chase turned a little so he could see the teenagers. They were overjoyed, jumping up and down like little kids and screaming. Watching them lifted Chase’s spirits and made him thankful that, back when he’d been having one of the worst days of his life, he’d answered the call from the 603 area code.

  The energy in the stands was infectious so, when everybody but the players had left the field, Chase was revved up and ready to play some football.

  By halftime, he never wanted to play football again.

  “I’m not getting shut out,” Sam said, once they’d reached the visitors’ locker room for a short break.

  Alex snorted. “Unless you’re playing for some other team, yeah, you’re getting shut out.”

  “Right now we are, but I mean that I’m not going to let this game end with us being shut out. Even Coach McDonnell doesn’t have a speech that’ll inspire us into a win here, but we’re going to put some damn points on that scoreboard if it kills me. Or you.”

  “The golden boys of fall,” Chase said with a chuckle. “Determined to get our asses kicked with as much dignity as possible.”

  “I think I lost my dignity in the second quarter,” Deck said.

  Alex nodded. “I’m pretty sure having to use a time-out because you were laughing so hard you fell down and couldn’t get back up will make the highlight reel. Their highlight reel.”

  “I’m sorry, but that was the worst kick I’ve ever seen.”

  Philly threw a towel at him. “My foot slipped.”

  “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Sam said. “At some point I’m going to say the word Texas. When I do that, you take off running to the left and deep, Briscoe. Make it look like you’re going for a burst of speed to surprise them.”